Whenever you enroll in soft-skills training for work -- leadership, conflict resolution, team-player -- there are aspects of the experience you can pretty much count on: You'll find yourself in a classroom with fluorescent lighting, unstainable carpet and motivational posters that invariably include puppies, elephants or monkeys.
There will always be a bulky binder for course materials, a pull-down projection screen and some form of journal or note card on which you can write your "learnings." Your instructor will likely be unfailingly patient and well-informed. And there will be role playing -- a bummer for those of us just now getting used to ourselves. You almost always begin by exploding commonly held misconceptions and move on to a new set of skills that include some easier-said-than-done bullet points: "Clear your mind."
And so it went last week during a visit to Cornell University's school of Industrial Labor Relations for a two-day class on "The Power of Listening." If you go in with the assumption that you will be fixed like a slipping transmission, it's not very long into the listening exercises, questionnaires and videos before you might think to yourself, I've heard enough.
But, then, of course, you probably weren't listening. Some people here take the course because it helps with certification requirements for certain jobs. Most attendees, ranging from labor-relations managers to a police officer, take it for personal development. There's usually someone who takes it because their bosses are looking to fix them. It's a course I've been wanting to take -- almost as much as my family has wanted me to.
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